The Salafi Nour Party announced Monday that it has intensified preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The party said it devised new criteria for choosing its female candidates in the next parliamentary elections.
The candidates will have to sit for tests on political and parliamentary affairs, as well as pass a general knowledge test. They would take training courses for that purpose.
Alexandria branch Secretary General Tareq Fahim said 45 candidates in Alexandria took workshops and participated in various community and political activities.
Fahim said the candidates do not necessarily have to wear the niqab, but must wear the khimar, a partial face covering, to run in the elections.
Hanan Allam, party secretary for female members, said the party would not mind fielding a Coptic female in the elections if she meets the criteria.
The party also launched a campaign Monday to collect LE1,000 from all its members to finance the election campaigns of its candidates in the next parliamentary elections.
“It is not mandatory for the members,” said Mohamed Abbas, the Cairo branch secretary in Cairo.
Abbas said many party candidates did not win in the last elections because they could not afford a comprehensive campaign.
“We do not want to make that mistake again,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
